Radiation Injured Workers to be discharged

Two workers hospitalized by radiation from Japan’s damaged nuclear plant may be discharged soon, the U.N. atomic agency said, although the exact source of the contaminated water which injured them is a mystery.

The men, battling to cool one of the most critical reactors at the plant on Thursday, and a colleague were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than expected, raising concern of a leak from the core’s container.

"According to the data we got from (Japan) they will be most likely discharged on Monday. From my medical perspective if they got something serious they wouldn’t be discharged on Monday," Rethy Chem, human health director at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference on Friday.

He said it was also an exaggeration to describe the injuries the men sustained on their feet as burns, although it was clear they had been contaminated.

The subcontractors, who had been working in a turbine hall, are believed to have ignored the alarms on their radiation monitoring equipment.